Tuesday, March 20, 2012

New logo: Bank Nizwa

Bank Nizwa is a new Islamic bank in Oman that intends to offer Sharia compliant banking services. Its corporate identity was unveiled this month, on March 11, and is credited to Wolff Olins. The logo depicts a traditional Omani gateway in yellow and purple.
The bank has posted the following lenghty explanation of the new mark on its website:

Bank Nizwa's brand mark, to someone viewing it at first hand, consists of a classical Omani gateway, of more compact proportions, containing in its centre a modern yellow square. The square's shadow on the gateway creates a visual twist of a passageway or a 3D cube moving forward in the frontal plane.

The relationship between the classical Omani gateway and the modern square hides in its DNA the concept of the brand. By having a modern basic shape within a classical one, we visualize the story of Bank Nizwa linking two extremes, which traditionally were thought to be unlinkable.

Bank Nizwa's brand mark tells the story of linking rooted values with modernity. By using our modern time's skills and technology as a way to bring forth our values in a natural and effortless way, these would serve as the foundation of a practical and humane bank.

The brand mark tells the story of bridging cultural richness with smart simplicity. It brings together the emotional connection infused with logical rationale to come up with smart collations based on actions rather than words.

The third concept arises from the square being placed in the heart of the gateway, which transforms the gateway into a shield. The shield's mission is to bring a conscious innovation of a guided and pure vision based on the values of Islam.

To complete the design a modern word mark in English and Arabic is used to reflect this modern and innovative movement.

As a conclusion to the design and concept explained above, Bank Nizwa represents a new trend of thinking anchored by the values of Islam. Its solutions are simple and smart, its ways are innovative and new with the human being at the heart of its existence and concern.